Tales From the Ramen Stand
by TalesFromaUniStudent
Summary: The events in Naruto will continue to happen, whether you're a ninja or not. So to survive isn't it safer to avoid canon? It's a shame she really needed a job, and Teuchi needed the help. Oc/Reincarnated thing, short ficlets? since drabbles are only 100 words.
1. Introduction

In the land of fire there is a village.

In this village there is a street.

On this street there is a ramen stand.

And working at this stand, is an observer of this world.

The village, Konohagakure, the street, Kyusan [1], the stand, Ichiraku ramen, this observer Koizumi Mariko.

* * *

Authors note:  
Well welcome guys to my "god, I'm bored let's give this a shot" Bunch of one shot (Maybe?) thing. I apologise for any inconsistencies or issues, English is my first language it's just always been my worst subject/class whatever.

[1] I have no idea of the street however according to the Naruto Wiki Ichiraku Ramen, is based on a real life ramen stand of the same name near the place where Kishimoto Masashi is presumed to have gone to university at **Kyu** shu **San** gyo the land of fire there is a village.


	2. In which Teuchi is a catalyst

At 16 years of age Mariko knows many things, however only a few have remained relevant throughout this lifetime.

1\. Money is necessary for survival.

2\. This isn't the first chance she's had a life.

3\. Naruto is not just an anime.

Of course having reached 16 years of age, numbers two and three barely register as an issue anymore, she's freaked out about it already, its old news. Rather number one is always going to be a problem. In fact it's always going to be _the_ problem. Because, Mariko wants to survive. So it's simple than, right? To survive you need money, to get money you need a job, and to get a job you need someone to hire you, and to get someone to hire you, you need skills. See? Simple. Unfortunately, as she insisted on attending a civilian school her skills were a little limited. But hey, at least she's alive.

…

It was this issue that plagued her as she shuffled out of her apartment and into Kyusan. She could always go back home and work with her parents at their grocery store, but honestly, they never quite got over their disappointment of not having a ninja in the family, and while personal responsibility sucks, at least she doesn't have to put up with _that._

The sounds and smells of the street became more pronounced the further she got from her apartment. Mariko sighed and grudgingly set a faster pace, the need for a quiet place to think overtaking her need to laze around. For midday the street was certainly busier than usual. Speaking of midday, she couldn't actually recall is she had eaten yet? She thought back to her day so far. She got up late, rolled up her bed, watered the flowers on the sill (not gotten from Yamanaka's shop, thank god), checked the mail, got forced into conversation with one of her neighbours, and "…huh" she hadn't eaten.

And now that she's been made aware of it, she could really feel her stomach yelling at her to be fed. Mariko rolled her eyes as she dug through her pockets for spare change, she'd left home already and she'd rather not have to walk back. After a couple moments she managed to come up with 50 ryo. Looking at the money in her hands, she quickly checked her pockets again, 50 ryo was hardly enough to buy her ramen, and the only ramen place nearby was Ichiraku's. Not that there's anything wrong with the place, she's well aware of its reputation for cheap, delicious food both from word of mouth and well, the anime, it's just that she's avoided canon rather well up until now. Sure she met the occasional Uchiha or Hyuuga, but never a _main character,_ main characters are dangerous. Her stomach growled louder, and she thought on it longer. She wouldn't be there for very long, and school was in session, she could hardly run into anyone important now. She was being silly, she's hungry and she can eat wherever she likes. Probably. Well, it's highly unlikely and at the moment that's good enough for her. So she began the short but no less arduous journey to Ichiraku's.

It's simple.

Just a quick trip.

In and out.

She's got this.

…

…

She does not have this. At all. In fact it's awful. She couldn't think of anything worse at the moment. And now it was a problem. Because well, the owner ("call me Teuchi" he had said when he took her order) was nice. He was really nice. Honestly, she should have known that, she _did_ know that, out of an entire village he was one of the few who were nice to Naruto and yet when actually faced with it, it still came as shock. Mariko was startled out of her thoughts as a bowel of ramen was placed in front of her. She couldn't help the widening of her eyes at the sheer size of the bowel, it was going to take her ages to finish it. She grabbed split her chopsticks and mumbled a quick thanks, if she wanted to get out of here soon she'd have to eat quickly. Or she would have if Teuchi hadn't struck up a conversation as he began to clean the bench. "You know you won't be able to taste your food if you eat that fast," he offered her a grin.

"Ah, I guess I wouldn't" Mariko replied sheepishly, slowing down as she avoided his gaze. As she looked around the store she noticed something, or rather a lack of some _one_. She could have sworn, "You work here alone?"

"Hmm? Yeah, it's just me, until my daughter finishes school. How's your ramen?"

"Well I dunno if it's as good as instant ramen but…" she trailed off

"I assure you homemade ramen is a much better option than instant ramen. It's more filling and it's much better for you"

"I was only kidding, you know. This is delicious." She offered him a smile and then decided to joke, "Think you could teach me?"

Teuchi stopped what he was doing to look at her, "it's a lot harder thank you think…" he trailed off, subtly asking for her name.

"Koizumi Mariko"

"Koizumi-san, it takes a fair amount of hard work and I expect nothing but the best from my apprentices"

"Wait, wait! I was joking, you know? What I really need at the moment is a job!"

Teuchi continued on like she'd never even spoken "Of course, any apprentice of mine would be paid for the work they were doing here, when not under my guidance." Did he just say paid work? She do need a job and the apprenticeship would get her a new skillset. This could wo-

Wait. No. She's not doing this. She'd already spent too much time here. This was not her plan. Getting a job, an apprenticeship, _whatever,_ would not help her avoid canon in fact it'd do the exact opposite. Besides she didn't really like hard work. She'd have to stop this now, "Listen-"

He cut her off one more time "500 ryo an hour would be the starting salary." She mouthed the amount again in shock. 500 ryo an hour was already enough to fix some of her money issues. Canon couldn't be that bad could it? She shook herself. Yes, yes it could. She wasn't strong enough to survive in a ninja battle even if she wasn't fighting in it, proximity was dangerous. She couldn't put a price on her life. "Of course if someone working long enough could get a raise up to 750 ryo an hour". Correction. She couldn't put a price on her life. Apparently Teuchi can. She slumped forward in defeat.

"Teuchi-san" she started hesitantly, god she was going to look back on this moment one day and regret it, wasn't she? "I would like to be your apprentice, and work here"

"You do understand you'll need to work hard? I won't tolerate laziness or tardiness. Ramen making is a craft like any other, it deserved the same level of dedication any other art form would get," why, say this now when you've given me no other choice?

"I understand,"

Teuchi looked at her sternly for a second, his gaze narrowing as if he was checking her for sincerity. "Then I look forward to seeing you bright and early tomorrow morning".

She withheld a groan and set to leave, the ramen having been finished a long time ago "then, I guess I'll see you around Teuchi-sensei"

As she began to leave, she heard him greet another customer. She could hear the grin was already back on his face like he wasn't the reason she was losing any chance for a decent night's sleep from now on. Or that he singlehandedly ruined 16 years of work.

She caught sight of the Konoha hite-ate out the corner of her eye, going in the opposite direction to her and gave her deepest sigh of the day.

Well. Problem one is solved. She just never thought two and three would ever become an issue again.

* * *

Author's Note:

I pulled work pay out of my ass. Apparently 1 ryo is 10 yen? Either way I have a fundamental lack of understanding for how the money works no matter the currency.

Also how do tenses work? Is Mariko coming across as lazy as I hope she is? Also any OC or SI or SI!OC recommendations for Naruto? I'd say I'm sorry that this was short but honestly, they'll all probably be something like this.

Honestly this story because I was bored. This took me an hour to write. While that tells me I probably shouldn't. I'd like to say kudos to anyone who actually writes fanfiction, because it's time consuming and you don't get paid. Good job guys.


End file.
